Have you ever heard a Christian say something like, “Who God is shapes what I do?” This is one of those “almost-truths” that sounds great at face value, but it’s missing a key step in the middle. Psalm 85 will fill in the middle piece we desperately need when learning to trust God: “Who God is shapes _ shapes what I do.”

One issue we face in trying to trust God is ending up making it about US: how am I growing to get what I need to trust God with MY life. Psalm 66 shows the internal work of faith from God’s perspective: “Who I am and what I do molds you because I want it to; I will mold you all, you see, when you finally come to me.”

There’s an underlying theme that runs throughout the Psalms we need to bring to the forefront today: trusting God is FIRST an internal work, THEN an external one. Psalms 42 & 43 show trusting God takes redirecting our instinct to bring our soul to God before we attempt fixing the physical problems around us.

When have you felt alone? Was it easy to break out of feeling lonely? David highlights how our physical loneliness & spiritual brokenness go hand-in-hand, showing in Psalm 25 that we trust God in loneliness by asking Him to reveal our brokenness, restore us, help us see ourselves as He does, and teach us His ways.

What do we gain by doing the internal work of faith? We feel so much pressure to respond immediately/swiftly, doing anything internal feels like a waste of time: yet Psalms 77-79 remind us working to trust God reminds you He’s still with you, redeeming you, in control, & calling you to share Him with others.

Shame is something we all experience…and have a hard time dealing with. What does it look like to trust God when we’re feeling shame? Psalm 71 reminds us that, first & foremost, God did not design us for shame; and that we trust Him in shame by making Him who we go to, adore, & pursue.

Have you ever been confronted by the reality you were wrong? Much of our world revolves around never admitting you’re wrong: but this fundamentally makes it hard to trust God. Psalm 51 shows us how we can admit we’re wrong by giving us 3 heart-movements that bring us closer to God as we work through our brokenness.

As we dive into Psalm 32 today, we’re going to look at both a situation and a definition: what it looks like to trust God when we’ve hurt others, AND what does confession mean? We’ll see confession (identifying what’s wrong, uncovering what’s wrong, & surrendering our will) allows us to join God making ALL things right.

"When you say, ‘Trust God,’ what are you telling me to do?” Are you struggling to put trust into action? Join us as we study Psalms to see how we can trust God in different seasons & situations. We’ll start today with the fundamentals in Psalms 1&19: trusting God means we want His way of life and work to train ourselves in it.

As we wrap up another year, reflecting on everything that's happened and hoping in anticipation of what 2025 might bring, minister John Marshal walks us through a key teaching on forgiveness, highlighting what it is, why we forgive, how we forgive, and the hope forgiveness brings us.